One dead, dozens injured in bus accident in La Vega

LA VEGA. One man died and more than a dozen persons, including seven tourists from the United States, were injured, when the Caribe Tours bus they were traveling in went off the road and down into a gully of a little river on the Jarabacoa-La Vega highway.

The fatality is Julio Lugo, the bus driver, who died on the way to the hospital, according to the statement by the La Vega Civil Defense director, Jackeline Polonia, which was given to the Spanish news agency EFE.

The rescue teams took more than three hours to extricate the driver from the vehicle since he was penned in, and therefore he arrived at the medical center in very bad condition and died when he was being attended to by physicians.

Among the injured are two Dominicans and a Haitian woman according to the official. Polonia indicated that the injured were taken to different hospitals and she none of the injured were in serious condition. Another 30 passengers were treated and released.

The United States tourists had been staying at the Hotel Jarabacoa.

The occurred at around 3:00 o'clock in the afternoon at the "U-curve" in Bayacanes, on the road that joins La Vega with Jarabacoa, when apparently the brakes failed on the bus with 54 passengers on board, according to a source.

The bus, according to witnesses, could not make the curve and went off the road into the gully which is not too deep.

The injured were taken to the Luis Morillo King Hospital and the Juan Bosch Trauma Hospital as well as private clinics in the city of La Vega.

The injured were assisted by volunteers, member of Civil Defense, the Red Cross, the Fire Department and other assistance groups.

The director of the municipal Civil Defense of La Vega, Ismael Acosta, reported that the majority of the persons involved in the accident were from Santo Domingo.

Traffic accidents are frequent at the so-called "Curve of the Virgin," where numerous persons have perished and others have been injured when their vehicles roll over.